A new report from The Wall Street Journal indicates that cord-cutters who rely on Hulu to catch up on shows in a timely manner could soon be shit out of luck.
According to the report, Time Warner is considering purchasing 25% of Hulu’s stock in a bid to stop the streaming service from airing current seasons of network and premium series. Nasdaq explains,
Time Warner believes that the presence of full, current seasons on Hulu—or anywhere else outside the bounds of pay-TV—is harmful to its owners because it contributes to people dropping their pay-TV subscriptions, or “cutting the cord.”
In the discussions about taking a 25% equity stake in Hulu, Time Warner has told the site’s owners that it ultimately wants episodes from current seasons off the service, at least in their existing form, although that is not a condition for its investment, according to the people familiar with the discussions.
The potential deal highlights the ongoing tensions between streaming and more conventional media; and while new services like HBOGo or CBSExpress indicate that some traditional networks are evolving with the shift towards streaming, that’s certainly not a painless transition. This new report comes several months after Time Warner Inc. chief executive Jeff Bewkes announced that the company was considering an overall to the way it distributed series, so that episodes of shows like The Flash and Arrow would arrive on streaming services years after the season first airs.
A large amount of Hulu’s appeal may be that, unlike Netflix, subscribers can enjoy episodes of current TV seasons. Still, the company has also seen success lately with the acquisition of older shows like Seinfeld and the introduction of Hulu Original Series, so it would be interesting to see how the network might evolve if it did have to do away with next-day streaming.
What do you think of this potential development, gang? Are you a Hulu subscriber? Would you stick around if they got rid of current seasons?
(via Polygon)
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